In the age of the Internet, connectivity is the great divider

Last week saw the return of 7:45am chaotic scenes in the Hart household — something that had been missing for the past 18 months, as we all tried to remember how we did this. “No, you can’t wear your pajamas all day, again!”, “You need to find socks!”, “Don’t forget your lunch! There’s no pantry at school!”

Driving home after drop-off, I reflected on how grateful I am for this experience — to have the kids finally back at school, being taught by professionals in an environment conducive to learning. I think they felt the same — they returned home mostly excited for the next day.

Through the pandemic we have been fortunate (if I can call it that): Comcast provided us with (barely) functional internet — our $90 per month, 600Mbps plan delivered 150Mbps on a good day and just enough upload speed for four of us to be on video calls simultaneously, including my wife who runs Supporting Mamas, a charity whose support groups for new mothers had to be moved online (at least for those lucky enough to have connectivity…); My kids had a dad at home with a PhD in engineering who could quickly figure out connectivity problems and get them back online when Comcast went down (again) or was too congested for us to all be online.

We are, of course, incredibly privileged. Many other families will have struggled through this pandemic without the ability to over-pay for Internet and have the access to someone to help them navigate the frustrations with poor-quality connectivity at critical times, while trying to balance keeping kids safe, connected and engaged and everything else they did pre-pandemic.

While the pandemic has, and continues to be, incredibly challenging for many communities and families throughout the world, it has shone a light on this problem: Connectivity is the great divider, limiting the potential of the Internet to be the great equalizer. As reported by the Open Technology Institute in a recent report The Online Learning Equity Gap, the connectivity divide is vast; Analysis reported from the Pew Research Center shows that 15% of households with school age children live without high-speed internet and the connectivity divide grows to around 40% for Black and Hispanic households earning less than $30k per year.

Let’s reflect for a moment: that’s two in five families without high-speed access, but based on my experience, is it wrong to assume the other three in five are fortunate enough to be connected and are not facing other connectivity-related challenges?

I sit in a demographic where only 4% of households are not high-speed connected, yet I’ve heard numerous friends lament connectivity challenges over the past 18 months. I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like, and what the impact was (and probably still is), for those families much less privileged than ours.

As I return home from drop-off and get back online in a now very peaceful household, I am grateful that many families are getting their kids back to school, but I’m mindful this problem did not magically go away. Connectivity inequity continues to be a systemic issue. The Homework Gap was called the “Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide” by the NEA in 2016, and has often been highlighted, including recently, by the acting FCC chairwoman. I start to wonder though, will those of us who have the power and privilege to do something start to forget as we no longer have to deal with our kids dropping off of class meetings, or being unable to upload assignments, and we don’t hear our significant other lamenting how the “Internet” (really connectivity to the Internet) is impacting their ability to work?

Not at Aervivo. If anything, we are more emboldened than ever and determined to lead the charge to change this.

Our task is not simple: Lack of effective regulation and underinvestment has left us with a monopoly in many parts of the world, including here in Silicon Valley, where several Internet companies and technologies have emerged to seemingly transform, at least for those who are not subject to connectivity inequity. In the US alone, the ISLR reports that 83 million people can only access the Internet through a single provider; Common Sense Media reports that 10% of public school teachers and 30% of students lack some combination of connectivity and a suitable device.

At Aervivo we are excited to be working on several projects that will allow new entrants to enter the connectivity marketplace to provide better services and choice for a wide range of segments of our society. We believe democratization requires a strong focus on digital inclusion projects. We have to create solutions that can connect everyone — this is the only way we transform from connectivity being the great divider to connectivity and the Internet truly being the great equalizer.